The United Church of Canada on May 1 released the report of its Working Group on Israel/Palestine Policy. The report will be considered by the denomination’s 41st General Council, which meets in Ottawa, August 11–18, 2012. Until that time the working group’s report is not policy of the church, and its proposals are solely recommendations.
Download the complete text of the working group’s report or download the FAQs.
Leave a Comment » | 
BDS, Canada, Reports | 
Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
This week’s Vue Weekly features an interview with Dalit Baum, who will present at next week’s Israeli Apartheid Week on Occupy the Occupation: Corporations, Profit and the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, Thursday, March 8 (7:00 – 9:00 pm) at the Engineering, Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) Room E 2-002 (East of 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues, U of A Campus).
Who profits?
Activist Dalit Baum will discuss the financial side of Israel’s occupation
Bryan Birtles / bryan@vueweekly.com
When the call from Palestinian civil society came out in 2005 for a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against illegal Israeli settlements, a big piece of the puzzle was missing: not a lot of people knew what kind of products were being manufactured in the settlements, nor which companies were profiting by having their products utilized to facilitate the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Enter Dalit Baum, who will deliver one of the keynote speeches at this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week in Edmonton. Her work with Who Profits from the Occupation, a research initiative she co-founded in Israel, as well as her more recent work in the United States with the economic activism for Palestine program at San Francisco’s Global Exchange, provides context and information about which companies are making money through the systematic discrimination of Palestinians. This research helps inform campaigns all over the world, dealing with issues far beyond the occupation of Palestine.
“The same corporations that limit civil liberties [in Israel] are the same corporations that manufacture tear gas used on the Occupy demonstrators are the same corporations involved with the privatization of prisons [in the US],” explains Baum of the scope of her research. “It’s not just about educating people about what’s going on in Palestine, it’s way beyond that.”
These campaigns are having an effect, says Baum, and their successes are threefold. Not only has the BDS campaign built a worldwide network of activists able to put pressure onto a corporation from a number of different angles, it has also forced Israelis to take a hard look at the policies of their government, as every new boycott becomes big news inside the country. Perhaps most importantly, the BDS campaign is having an effect on the ground, in the illegal settlements in the occupied territories.
“If you look at the settlement industry and the production in settlements, it’s failing,” Baum says. “We have a series of big corporations that have announced they will pull their production from these sites because they’re afraid of litigation, because it’s illegal according to international law, because they don’t want to be involved in something viewed so unfavourably in Europe and they have business in Europe, because of all these reasons. We are building a movement that is not only relevant locally but also has some traction and effect on the ground. We didn’t have that before.”
As a queer activist in addition to an anti-Apartheid activist, “pinkwashing” is something Baum has dealt with for years. Seeking to discredit the anti-Apartheid movement, opponents will call Israel “the only democracy” in the Middle East or proclaim it the only country in the region with respect for gay rights. Baum rejects these arguments as propaganda.
“Why all of a sudden do you care about gay and lesbian Palestinians when you don’t care about them any other day of the week?” she asks rhetorically. “It’s preposterous how this is used as a form of propaganda … when people hear how Israel actually treats, for example, queer Palestinian youth looking for asylum—they don’t give these people any kind of asylum.
“There’s seven million Israeli citizens and then four million Palestinians who have no civil rights but are controlled by the same government—that’s a very flawed democracy.”
Leave a Comment » | BDS, Canada, Corporations, Edmonton, Events, Independent Media | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
The University of Regina’s Students’ Union voted at its AGM on February 1 to join the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in support of Palestinian human rights. The resolution resolved that the U of R Students’ Union:
- Recognize that the right to education is a fundamental human righttp://psnedmonton.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpht that is basic to human freedom;
- Join student organizations around the globe by endorsing the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions from Palestinian civil society;
- Commit to identifying and divesting from companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, occupation and oppression;
- Affirm that students have a vital role in supporting struggles for social justice, and stand in solidarity with Palestinians’ struggle for self-determination and freedom.
While there is widespread support on campus for the resolution (URSU president Kent Peterson says, “There were actually no con speakers to the motion. There were a few pro speakers, and then it was voted upon. I believe it was passed unanimously and if it wasn’t unanimous, there might have been one vote against it.”), pro-Israel groups including the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs have predictably decried the democratically passed resolution and are calling for it to be repealed.
Prince Albert Conservative MP Randy Hoback rose in the House of Commons on March 1 and called on U of R President Vianne Timmons to condemn the move, charging that URSU had used “alarmist language” and taken “a simplistic and prejudicial view to an issue that deserves a far more mature and balanced approach.”
In the face of this coordinated backlash, members of the URSU need to know that their principled move is supported by Canadians who are concerned about human rights. Please take a few moments to send a note to URSU executives to congratulate them on their principled resolution and to indicate your support:
You can send emails to URSU at contactus@ursu.ca, and/or to individual members of the exec (phone calls are great too):
Kent Peterson (President)
(306) 586-8811 ext. 206 | president@ursu.ca
Paige Kezima
Vice President of External Affairs
(306) 586-8811 ext. 203 | external@ursu.ca
Haanim Nur
Vice President of Operations & Finance
(306) 586-8811 ext. 235 | finance@ursu.ca
Melissa Blackhurst
Vice President of Student Affairs
(306) 586-8811 ext. 212 | student@ursu.ca
Leave a Comment » | Action, BDS, Canada, Freedom of Speech | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
THE FOURTH ANNUAL EDMONTON ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK
MARCH 5 – 13, 2012
*** ALL EVENTS FREE ***
Palestine Solidarity Network-U of A presents seven days of presentations, workshops, film screenings, and cultural events in solidarity with Palestine and to raise awareness around the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid. All IAW 2012 events are open to everyone, and are free of charge. We look forward to seeing you there!
IAW 2012 is organized by Palestine Solidarity Network and endorsed and supported by the Canada Palestine Cultural Association, Independent Jewish Voices, Faculty 4 Palestine Alberta, and Edmonton Small Press Association. Individual sessions are also supported by APIRG, Global Exchange, Feminist Edmonton, and the Breath in Poetry Collective.
MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012
Back to Basics in Palestine: Redefining Our Relationship to a People’s Struggle
IAW 2012 opening keynote by Ramzy Baroud
Monday, March 5 (7:00 – 9:00 pm)
Engineering, Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) Room E 1-013
East of 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues
(Click here for map)
Help spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
The Palestinian struggle for justice has transitioned through myriad of historical and political phases, where the political (and, of course, physical) topography of Palestine and the entire region have been altered, time and again. However, from one war to another, from some ‘peace treaty’ to another, and from one state of siege to another, the underpinnings of the conflict have remained unchanged: an anti-colonial struggle for rights, for equality, for freedom, for justice.
As a result of constant redefinitions of the conflict, the solidarity movement has been challenged repeatedly regarding its understanding of the situation in Palestine, which for some turned into an intellectual debate about ideas, theories, and visions. As sincere as these debates have been, they can be distracting, polarizing and confusing, if not entirely removed from the situation in Palestine.
What does active solidarity actually mean, and how can it be achieved with moral consistency? What is our responsibility as civil society regarding our governments’ action or inaction in relation to the conflict? How can we be of direct contribution to aiding rightful Palestinian demands for equality and justice? Do we need to redefine our relationship to the Palestinian struggle altogether in order for us to practically rebalance the iniquitous paradigm that continues to define the relationship between the Palestinian oppressed and the Israeli oppressor?
About Ramzy Baroud:
Palestinian-American journalist, author, editor and former Al-Jazeera producer, Ramzy Baroud taught Mass Communication at Australia’s Curtin University of Technology, and is editor-in-chief of the Palestine Chronicle.
Baroud’s work has been published in hundreds of newspapers and journals worldwide, including The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, Arab News, The Miami Herald, The Japan Times, Al-Ahram Weekly, Asia Times and nearly every English language publication throughout the Middle East. He has contributed to and was cited and referenced in hundreds of books. He has been a guest on many television and radio programs including CNN International, BBC, ABC Australia, National Public Radio, Press TV, Al-Jazeera and many other stations.
Ramzy Baroud has been a guest speaker at many top universities around the world, including George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Rutgers University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Manchester, University of Ireland, University of Washington, Penn State University and the University of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. He has also been a guest speaker at the House of Commons in London. Baroud has spoken and conducted book tours in over twenty countries.
Renowned American scholar, Noam Chomsky said of his work, “Ramzy Baroud’s sensitive, thoughtful, searching writing penetrates to the core of moral dilemmas that their intended audiences evade at their peril. Few are spared his perceptive eye, and only the morally callous will fail to respond to his pleas to look into the mirror honestly, to question comforting beliefs that protect us from facing our elementary responsibilities, and to act to remedy the terrible misery and injustice that he exposes to our view, as we surely can.”
Supported by the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG) and Faculty 4 Palestine Alberta.
Getting to ETLC:
If you are driving to campus, the most convenient place to park is the Windsor Car Park, located on 116 Street, just north of 92 Avenue. The Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) is located just south of Windsor Car Park.
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012
Poets Against Apartheid – A Night of Rouge Poetry
Tuesday, March 6 (9:00 – 11:00 pm)
Rouge Lounge
10111-117 Street
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Join us at Rouge Lounge for our annual night of spoken word and performance poetry relating the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people. This night will leave you inspired to share the stories of struggle with others and to be part of the growing movement against the injustice of apartheid in Palestine.
Sorry, no minors.
Presented in collaboration with the Breath in Poetry Collective
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012
Women’s Perspectives on Occupation and Apartheid
Featuring Rela Mazali (via Skype), Anat Matar (via Skype), and Ghada Ageel
Wednesday, March 7 (Noon – 2:00 pm)
Telus Building Room 236/238
Corner of 111 Street & 87 Avenue, University of Alberta Campus
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Three women — both Israeli and Palestinian — active in solidarity with Palestine will share their stories and perspectives on the occupation and how to move towards a just resolution to the question of Israel/Palestine.
Rela Mazali will focus on the militarization of Israeli society. Militarization — continuous and pervasive — is one of the central processes characterizing society and state in Israel. It is a social-political process which is arguably central to every settler society and state engaged, as all of them are or were, in the systematic displacement, dispossession and subjection of an indigenous population. A society practicing or undergoing militarization maintains a state of readiness for, and acquiescence with or even support for, combat, conflict and war, to which it accordingly consents to allocate a huge chunk of its resources, including the bodies, minds and lives of its children. In order to achieve and reproduce, such acquiescence, support and consent in a militarized society, in order to perpetuate and justify this continual social process, militarization obviously requires an image of The Enemy, a proverbial “other,” which it repeatedly constructs and finds ways of providing. So, for instance, in 2008, after Hamas observed an extended period of ceasefire, it was Israel that decided against a renewal, preferring instead to step up its illegal summary executions of Palestinian leaders. This aspect of militarization is obvious and visible. But it’s only from a feminist perspective that another, vital component of ongoing militarization becomes visible and obvious. Militarization requires and produces not just The Enemy but, in addition, an-Other Other: “Her,” a feminized, idealized image of the vulnerable, soft, gentle, warm woman whom the soldier has to protect. Rela’s talk will outline some of the major implications of militarization in the settler society she is part of and lives in, touching particularly on some of the gendered phenomena in militarized Israeli society. She’ll also talk about the feminist activism resisting the reality of deep-running militarization.
Anat Matar will focus on the issue of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. There are currently over 4000 Palestinian prisoners classified as “security” prisoners in Israeli jails; over 300 of them are administrative detainees, i.e., detainees held in prison without charge or trial – sometimes for years. Anat’s talk will shed some light on political persecution, on the conditions of these prisoners and detainees, on several special groups of prisoners (veteran prisoners – including Israeli citizens, organizers of demonstrations, members of the legislative council), and also on the lack of interest of the Israeli public in this issue. She will also offer a comparison between the Israeli attitude towards Palestinian prisoners and its attitude towards Palestinians in general – since the latter, too, all of them, are taken merely as “threats” rather than autonomous human beings craving for freedom, independence and political self-control.
Ghada Ageel will focus on the impact of military occupation and an apartheid regime on Palestinian people’s basic and fundamental rights to food, life, land, education, health care, parenthood, safety, and freedom. From a woman’s perspective and through lived stories, Ghada will shed light on the odd and oppressive limbo that Palestinians, both in West Bank and besieged Gaza, endure on a daily basis and will tell a tale of a nation that has been made to live with broken hearts, expecting to grieve at any minute.
Among the questions that Ghada will attempt to answer are: What does it mean to be a refugee in one’s own land, stateless with no citizenship, no rights and no power over one’s own or ones family’s lives? What does it mean to be directly connected to an endless conflict that impacts every single aspect of daily life? How does it taste to live under hardship, humiliation and devastation all day/every day? How does it feel to be deprived to see one’s husband, father, brother or son for years and perhaps decades? How possible is it at all to plant seeds of hope amid these exceptional circumstances of suffering and dispossession?
About the speakers:
Rela Mazali is an author, an independent scholar, and a feminist anti-militarist activist from Israel. Active against Israel’s occupation since 1980, one of the founders of the New Profile Movement to Civilize Israeli Society (in 1998) and the Coalition of Women for Peace (in 2000), one of eight women from Israel nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by the 1,000 Peacewomen project, a member of the Jury of Conscience of the World Tribunal on Iraq in 2005, co-founder and co-coordinator of the disarmament project, Gun Free Kitchen Tables in 2010. Rela’s latest book is Home Archaeology (in Hebrew 2011), and she is also the author of Maps of Women’s Goings and Stayings (2001), WhaNever (in Hebrew 1987). Among her recent articles: “A Call for Livable Futures,” “Telltale Maps: Narrated Resistance in a Jewish Palestinian Contact Zone,” and “Ethnically Constructed Guns and Feminist Anti-Militarism in Israel.” (aia Skype)
Anat Matar is a senior lecturer at the Department of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, and a longtime anti-occupation activist. She presently sits on the steering-committee of Who Profits? – Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry, and is the chair of the Israeli Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners. She recently edited, along with Adv. Abeer Baker, a collection of analyses and testimonies about Palestinian political prisoners, entitled Threat – Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israel. (via Skype)
Dr. Ghada Ageel is a third generation Palestinian refugee. She was born and raised in the Khan Younis Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip, were she attended high school and completed a BA in Education. In 1999, Ghada won the Jerusalem Studies’ Scholarship of the University of Exeter in Britain, where she completed her Master’s degree in Middle East Politics, and her PhD in Refugees Studies. Sine then, Ghada has worked with several organizations and institutions in Canada, UK and Palestine. She currently lives in Edmonton and works at the Canadian Red Cross.
Also presented as part of Feminist Edmonton’s Feminist Week.
THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012
Occupy the Occupation!
Corporations, Profit and the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
IAW 2012 keynote by Dalit Baum
Thursday, March 8 (7:00 – 9:00 pm)
Engineering, Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) Room E 2-002
East of 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Who has a financial stake in the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine? The talk will provide an introduction to the economy of the Israeli occupation, with a focus on corporate complicity and accountability. Can the 99% influence these economic interests to isolate and weaken the 44-year-old occupation of Palestine? Using examples of economic activism initiatives from all around the world we will discuss this emerging new global movement, its strategies and goals.
Dalit Baum, Ph.D., is a co-founder of Who Profits from the Occupation, an activist research initiative of the Coalition of Women for Peace In Israel. During the last five years, Who Profits has become a vital resource for dozens of campaigns around the world, providing information about corporate complicity in the occupation of Palestine.
Dalit is a feminist scholar and teacher in Israel, who has been teaching about militarism and about the global economy from a feminist perspective in Israeli universities. As a feminist/ queer activist, she has been active with various groups in the Israeli anti-occupation and democratization movement, including Black Laundry, Boycott from Within, Zochrot, Anarchists against the Wall and Women in Black.
This year she works out of San Francisco as the regional program coordinator of the Middle East program of AFSC – the American Friends Service Committee- and with the Economic Activism for Palestine Program of Global Exchange, which supports corporate accountability campaigns in the U.S.
Supported by the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG) and Global Exchange. Also presented as part of Feminist Edmonton’s Feminist Week.
Getting to ETLC:
If you are driving to campus, the most convenient place to park is the Windsor Car Park, located on 116 Street, just north of 92 Avenue. The Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) is located just south of Windsor Car Park.
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012
From Turtle Island to Palestine: Apartheid, Colonialism and Indigenous Self-Determination
A public lecture and discussion with Mike Krebs
Friday, March 9 (3:30 – 5:00 pm)
Education Centre South Room 128
113 Street and 87 Avenue, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Mike Krebs is a Vancouver-based Indigenous activist, writer, and researcher of Blackfoot and European descent. He is a founding member of the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign in Vancouver and long-time organizer in the BDS movement. Mike’s research focuses on how Canada’s longstanding support for Israel’s policies of apartheid toward the Palestinian people relates to Canada’s own historic and ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples, and the implications for doing BDS work from within a “fellow” settler society.
MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012
Roadmap to Apartheid
Advance Preview Film Screening
Monday, March 12 (7:00 – 9:00 pm)
Telus Building Room 134
Corner of 111 Street & 87 Avenue, University of Alberta Campus
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
About Roadmap to Apartheid:
There are many lessons to draw from the South African experience of Apartheid relevant to conflicts all over the world. Roadmap to Apartheid explores in detail the apartheid comparison as it is used in the enduring Israel-Palestine conflict. As much an historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid, the film shows us why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them.
Featuring interviews with South Africans, Israelis and Palestinians, Roadmap to Apartheid winds its way through the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and inside Israel, moving from town to town and issue to issue to show why the apartheid analogy is being used with increasing potency. It analyzes the similar historical narratives of the Jewish people and the Afrikaaners to the tight relationship the two governments shared during the apartheid years, and everything in between. The effectiveness of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that helped end apartheid in South Africa is also compared to its effectiveness in the Israeli context to end the occupation, and bring justice and dignity to all.
Narrated by Alice Walker.
Winner of Overall Prize and the Expert Panel Prize in the First International Israeli Apartheid Video Contest, presented by Stop the Wall and ItIsApartheid.
This film is dedicated to Dennis Brutus, an anti-apartheid hero to us all. Rest in Peace, Dennis. Apartheid will end.
For more information visit roadmaptoapartheid.org.
TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012
Poetic Injustice
A night of poetry with Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi
Tuesday, March 13 (9:00 – 11:00 pm)
Rouge Lounge
10111-117 Street
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Join us at Rouge Lounge for the closing event of Israeli Apartheid Week 2012: a special night of poetry at Rouge Lounge, featuring acclaimed Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi.
Sorry, no minors.
Presented in collaboration with the Breath in Poetry Collective
About Remi Kanazi:
Remi Kanazi is a Palestinian-American poet, writer, and activist based in New York City. He is the editor of Poets For Palestine (Al isser Group, 2008). His political commentary has been featured by news outlets throughout the world, including Al Jazeera English, GRITtv with Laura Flanders, and BBC Radio. His poetry has taken him across North America, the UK, and the Middle East, and he recently appeared in the Palestine Festival of Literature as well as Poetry International. He is a recurring writer in residence and advisory board member for the Palestine Writing Workshop.
Remi is the author of the long-awaited collection Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine, a diverse mix of unabashed resistance poems. Laced with searing indictments of occupation, ethnic cleansing, and war, Remi tackles some of the most important issues facing the world today. The collection also includes forty-eight three-line poems for Palestine and a full-length spoken word poetry CD.
You can find out more about Remi and Poetic Injustice at poeticinjustice.net.
Leave a Comment » | BDS, Edmonton, Events, Israeli Apartheid Week | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
Congratulations to Students Against Israeli Apartheid – Regina (SAIA) and the University of Regina Student Union for joining the global movement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel!
From the Regina Solidarity Group:
Students Against Israeli Apartheid – Regina (SAIA) is pleased to announce that a motion was passed at the University of Regina Student Union AGM to support the Palestinian call for boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) as a means of pressuring Israel to comply with international and human rights law. This resolution is a huge first step towards the full divestment of the University of Regina from companies complicit with the human rights violations currently taking place in Palestine. Plans are already in motion for SAIA, together with the University of Regina Student Union (URSU) and other members of the community, to begin investigating URSU’s portfolio for companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, as well as collectively launching an education campaign on campus about the issue.
SAIA would like to thank everyone who came out to vote for the resolution and all those who have been supporting and organizing around this issue within the community. There will be a lot of work to do before the end of the school year – if anyone is interested in joining the group please feel free to contact us at saiauofr@gmail.com. Thanks for all the support!
Sincerely,
SAIA Regina
RESOLUTION TO JOIN THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
February 1, 2012
WHERAS Israel is currently in defiance of over 30 UN Security Council Resolutions pertaining to its illegal military occupation of Palestine and is in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice in 2004;
WHEREAS Israel systematically obstructs Palestinian students’ right to education through military checkpoints and roadblocks, the illegal apartheid wall, and the frequent closure of cities, routinely preventing thousands of students and teachers from reaching their schools and universities;
WHEREAS on July 9, 2005, 171 Palestinian organizations called upon people of conscience around the world to implement a global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era;
WHEREAS students around the world, from York to Concordia, Carleton, UC Berkeley, McGill, the University of Toronto and New York University have been at the forefront of this global movement by campaigning for divestment of university funds from companies that support or profit from Israel’s illegal occupation and systematic denial of Palestinian human rights;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the University of Regina Student Union:
Recognize that the right to education is a fundamental human right that is basic to human freedom;
Join student organizations around the globe by endorsing the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions from Palestinian civil society;
Commit to identifying and divesting from companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, occupation and oppression;
Affirm that students have a vital role in supporting struggles for social justice, and stand in solidarity with Palestinians’ struggle for self-determination and freedom.
Leave a Comment » | BDS, Canada, News | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
The Fourth Annual Edmonton Israeli Apartheid Week will take place from March 5-13, 2012, featuring presentations, workshops, film screenings, and cultural events to raise awareness around the human rights situation in Palestine/Israel and to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid.
Edmonton IAW 2012 will feature Ramzy Baroud, Dalit Baum, and Remi Kanazi.
A full schedule of events in Edmonton is below. You can visit the global site for more information about Israeli Apartheid Week.
MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012
Back to Basics in Palestine: Redefining Our Relationship to a People’s Struggle
IAW 2012 opening keynote by Ramzy Baroud
Monday, March 5 (7:00 – 9:00 pm)
Engineering, Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) Room E 1-013
East of 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues
(Click here for map)
Help spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
The Palestinian struggle for justice has transitioned through myriad of historical and political phases, where the political (and, of course, physical) topography of Palestine and the entire region have been altered, time and again. However, from one war to another, from some ‘peace treaty’ to another, and from one state of siege to another, the underpinnings of the conflict have remained unchanged: an anti-colonial struggle for rights, for equality, for freedom, for justice.
As a result of constant redefinitions of the conflict, the solidarity movement has been challenged repeatedly regarding its understanding of the situation in Palestine, which for some turned into an intellectual debate about ideas, theories, and visions. As sincere as these debates have been, they can be distracting, polarizing and confusing, if not entirely removed from the situation in Palestine.
What does active solidarity actually mean, and how can it be achieved with moral consistency? What is our responsibility as civil society regarding our governments’ action or inaction in relation to the conflict? How can we be of direct contribution to aiding rightful Palestinian demands for equality and justice? Do we need to redefine our relationship to the Palestinian struggle altogether in order for us to practically rebalance the iniquitous paradigm that continues to define the relationship between the Palestinian oppressed and the Israeli oppressor?
About Ramzy Baroud:
Palestinian-American journalist, author, editor and former Al-Jazeera producer, Ramzy Baroud taught Mass Communication at Australia’s Curtin University of Technology, and is editor-in-chief of the Palestine Chronicle.
Baroud’s work has been published in hundreds of newspapers and journals worldwide, including The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, Arab News, The Miami Herald, The Japan Times, Al-Ahram Weekly, Asia Times and nearly every English language publication throughout the Middle East. He has contributed to and was cited and referenced in hundreds of books. He has been a guest on many television and radio programs including CNN International, BBC, ABC Australia, National Public Radio, Press TV, Al-Jazeera and many other stations.
Ramzy Baroud has been a guest speaker at many top universities around the world, including George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Rutgers University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Manchester, University of Ireland, University of Washington, Penn State University and the University of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. He has also been a guest speaker at the House of Commons in London. Baroud has spoken and conducted book tours in over twenty countries.
Renowned American scholar, Noam Chomsky said of his work, “Ramzy Baroud’s sensitive, thoughtful, searching writing penetrates to the core of moral dilemmas that their intended audiences evade at their peril. Few are spared his perceptive eye, and only the morally callous will fail to respond to his pleas to look into the mirror honestly, to question comforting beliefs that protect us from facing our elementary responsibilities, and to act to remedy the terrible misery and injustice that he exposes to our view, as we surely can.”
Supported by the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG) and Faculty 4 Palestine Alberta.
Getting to ETLC:
If you are driving to campus, the most convenient place to park is the Windsor Car Park, located on 116 Street, just north of 92 Avenue. The Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) is located just south of Windsor Car Park.
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012
Poets Against Apartheid – A Night of Rouge Poetry
Tuesday, March 6 (9:00 – 11:00 pm)
Rouge Lounge
10111-117 Street
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Join us at Rouge Lounge for our annual night of spoken word and performance poetry relating the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people. This night will leave you inspired to share the stories of struggle with others and to be part of the growing movement against the injustice of apartheid in Palestine.
Sorry, no minors.
Presented in collaboration with the Breath in Poetry Collective
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012
Women’s Perspectives on Occupation and Apartheid
Wednesday, March 7 (Noon – 2:00 pm)
Telus Building Room 236/238
Corner of 111 Street & 87 Avenue, University of Alberta Campus
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Three women — both Israeli and Palestinian — active in solidarity with Palestine will share their stories and perspectives on the occupation and how to move towards a just resolution to the question of Israel/Palestine.
Rela Mazali is an outspoken critic of Israeli militarism and has been working for many years to end torture and to combat human rights violations by Israeli authorities. She works at national and international levels on antimilitarism and feminism, especially with respect to the Israel-Palestine conflict. (via Skype)
Dr. Anat Matar is a senior lecturer of philosophy at Tel Aviv University and a political activist. She is the chair of the Israeli Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners. She is the mother of Haggai Matar, a conscientious objector. (via Skype)
Dr. Ghada Ageel is a third generation Palestinian refugee. She was born and raised in the Khan Younis Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip, were she attended high school and completed a BA in Education. In 1999, Ghada won the Jerusalem Studies’ Scholarship of the University of Exeter in Britain, where she completed her Master’s degree in Middle East Politics, and her PhD in Refugees Studies. Sine then, Ghada has worked with several organizations and institutions in Canada, UK and Palestine. She currently lives in Edmonton and works at the Canadian Red Cross.
THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012
Occupy the Occupation!
Corporations, Profit and the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
IAW 2012 keynote by Dalit Baum
Thursday, March 8 (7:00 – 9:00 pm)
Engineering, Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) Room E 2-002
East of 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Who has a financial stake in the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine? The talk will provide an introduction to the economy of the Israeli occupation, with a focus on corporate complicity and accountability. Can the 99% influence these economic interests to isolate and weaken the 44-year-old occupation of Palestine? Using examples of economic activism initiatives from all around the world we will discuss this emerging new global movement, its strategies and goals.
Dalit Baum, Ph.D., is a co-founder of Who Profits from the Occupation, an activist research initiative of the Coalition of Women for Peace In Israel. During the last five years, Who Profits has become a vital resource for dozens of campaigns around the world, providing information about corporate complicity in the occupation of Palestine.
Dalit is a feminist scholar and teacher in Israel, who has been teaching about militarism and about the global economy from a feminist perspective in Israeli universities. As a feminist/ queer activist, she has been active with various groups in the Israeli anti-occupation and democratization movement, including Black Laundry, Boycott from Within, Zochrot, Anarchists against the Wall and Women in Black.
This year she works out of San Francisco as the regional program coordinator of the Middle East program of AFSC – the American Friends Service Committee- and with the Economic Activism for Palestine Program of Global Exchange, which supports corporate accountability campaigns in the U.S.
Supported by the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG) and Global Exchange.
Getting to ETLC:
If you are driving to campus, the most convenient place to park is the Windsor Car Park, located on 116 Street, just north of 92 Avenue. The Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) is located just south of Windsor Car Park.
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012
From Turtle Island to Palestine: Apartheid, Colonialism and Indigenous Self-Determination
A public lecture and discussion with Mike Krebs
Friday, March 9 (3:30 – 5:00 pm)
Education Centre South Room 128
113 Street and 87 Avenue, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Mike Krebs is a Vancouver-based Indigenous activist, writer, and researcher of Blackfoot and European descent. He is a founding member of the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign in Vancouver and long-time organizer in the BDS movement. Mike’s research focuses on how Canada’s longstanding support for Israel’s policies of apartheid toward the Palestinian people relates to Canada’s own historic and ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples, and the implications for doing BDS work from within a “fellow” settler society.
MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012
Roadmap to Apartheid
Advance Preview Film Screening
Monday, March 12 (7:00 – 9:00 pm)
Telus Building Room 134
Corner of 111 Street & 87 Avenue, University of Alberta Campus
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
About Roadmap to Apartheid:
There are many lessons to draw from the South African experience of Apartheid relevant to conflicts all over the world. Roadmap to Apartheid explores in detail the apartheid comparison as it is used in the enduring Israel-Palestine conflict. As much an historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid, the film shows us why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them.
Featuring interviews with South Africans, Israelis and Palestinians, Roadmap to Apartheid winds its way through the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and inside Israel, moving from town to town and issue to issue to show why the apartheid analogy is being used with increasing potency. It analyzes the similar historical narratives of the Jewish people and the Afrikaaners to the tight relationship the two governments shared during the apartheid years, and everything in between. The effectiveness of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that helped end apartheid in South Africa is also compared to its effectiveness in the Israeli context to end the occupation, and bring justice and dignity to all.
Narrated by Alice Walker.
Winner of Overall Prize and the Expert Panel Prize in the First International Israeli Apartheid Video Contest, presented by Stop the Wall and ItIsApartheid.
This film is dedicated to Dennis Brutus, an anti-apartheid hero to us all. Rest in Peace, Dennis. Apartheid will end.
For more information visit roadmaptoapartheid.org.
TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012
Poetic Injustice
A night of poetry with Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi
Tuesday, March 13 (9:00 – 11:00 pm)
Rouge Lounge
10111-117 Street
(Click here for map)
Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.
Join us at Rouge Lounge for the closing event of Israeli Apartheid Week 2012: a special night of poetry at Rouge Lounge, featuring acclaimed Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi.
Sorry, no minors.
Presented in collaboration with the Breath in Poetry Collective
About Remi Kanazi:
Remi Kanazi is a Palestinian-American poet, writer, and activist based in New York City. He is the editor of Poets For Palestine (Al isser Group, 2008). His political commentary has been featured by news outlets throughout the world, including Al Jazeera English, GRITtv with Laura Flanders, and BBC Radio. His poetry has taken him across North America, the UK, and the Middle East, and he recently appeared in the Palestine Festival of Literature as well as Poetry International. He is a recurring writer in residence and advisory board member for the Palestine Writing Workshop.
Remi is the author of the long-awaited collection Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine, a diverse mix of unabashed resistance poems. Laced with searing indictments of occupation, ethnic cleansing, and war, Remi tackles some of the most important issues facing the world today. The collection also includes forty-eight three-line poems for Palestine and a full-length spoken word poetry CD.
You can find out more about Remi and Poetic Injustice at poeticinjustice.net.
Leave a Comment » | BDS, Edmonton, Events, Israeli Apartheid Week | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) has released the following statement on the global Occupy Movement.
Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
We are part of the world’s 99% yearning for freedom, justice and equal rights!
If a people one day wills to live fate must answer its call
And the night must fade and the chain must break
– Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia)
Occupied Palestine, October 13 -The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilisations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Action, BDS, Canada, Edmonton | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
An opinion piece by members of Faculty for Palestine responding to the final report of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) appears in today’s National Post Full Comment.
Report on anti-Semitism seeks only to protect Israel
By Sue Ferguson, Mary-Jo Nadeau, Eric Shragge, Abby Lippman, Gary Kinsman and Reuben Roth
This month, a serious attack was made against free speech in Canada. A pseudo-parliamentary committee calling itself the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) issued a report calling on the federal government to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would criminalize criticism of the state of Israel. The report claims to support free speech and open debate around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but its recommendations aim to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on campuses. The CPCCA’s biased processes and dubious conclusions contradict its own argument for balanced debate, and make a mockery of the notion of disinterested parliamentary inquiry.
The CPCCA was founded in 2009. While it included MPs from all parliamentary parties, the CPCCA is not an official parliamentary committee. It nonetheless draws upon the resources and authority of Parliament, while refusing to hold open debate in keeping with due process.
The CPCCA’s mandate was to define, analyze and address anti-Semitism. However, the coalition formed its core conclusions before beginning its inquiry. Its founding documents emphasized the so-called “new anti-Semitism,” associating it with the global movement for Palestinian human rights.
CPCCA materials published prior to the hearings cited campuses as places of special interest, but provided no substantive evidence. Later, the inquiry’s findings confirmed their biases through distorted claims that pro-Palestinian events create a campus environment ripe for anti-Semitism. Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), an annual program of public talks, films and workshops supporting the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, is singled out; it is depicted as an aggressive campaign that “hijack[s] any open and honest dialogue regarding the Middle East.”
The report conveniently overlooks IAW’s value as a site of global education on the plight of Palestinians living on, and in exile from, land that is illegally occupied by Israel. The participation of Jewish students and professors in IAW is systematically ignored. So is the fact that IAW organizers focus their analysis on a critique of the Israeli state, not Jewish people. That IAW explicitly condemns anti-Semitism and all racism is similarly neglected.
The report also dismisses the testimony of campus administrators who refuted the CPCCA’s preconceived notions. To be clear, the 25 university presidents or their representatives who spoke to the panel are no friends of pro-Palestinian organizers, having previously banned IAW posters, obstructed room bookings and otherwise tried to silence criticism of Israel on their campuses. And yet, their testimony consistently denied that the “new anti-Semitism” threatens their students. Instead, they suggested debate of difficult ideas should be encouraged at universities, not censored.
Most who seriously challenged the CPCCA were simply excluded from the so-called “public” hearings. Faculty for Palestine — a network of 450 faculty members from Canadian universities and colleges — for example, was not invited to discuss our written submission despite the CPCCA’s assertion that the “new anti-Semitism” is especially concentrated on campuses. Co-chair Mario Silva explained these exclusions as follows: “I personally feel I didn’t want to give a platform to individuals who had no time for us. Why should we have time for them?” It is no wonder that Bloc Québécois MPs withdrew from the CPCCA in 2010, citing the refusal of the steering committee to hear groups with opposing viewpoints, including from organizations such as the Canadian Arab Federation.
The CPCCA is fluent in doublespeak. The coalition urges critics to commit to serious and rigorous debate, but it avoids engaging in debate. It relies on hearsay, anecdotes and cherry-picked testimony while ignoring a wealth of research countering its claims. The report asserts that IAW should not be banned, but then asks university presidents to condemn IAW and calls on government to legislate this new criminalizing definition of anti-Semitism.
Faculty for Palestine is deeply concerned by the CPCCA’s analysis and recommendations — we think it should be treated with extreme skepticism. Its conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is inaccurate and dangerous. Indeed, the Israeli state just announced unprecedented legislation banning boycotts. If Canada accepts the CPCCA’s recommendations, we may soon travel this same politically repressive road. A commitment to real dialogue on this complex conflict in the Middle East must win out over attempts to shut down debate and criminalize movements for social change.
The authors are members of Faculty for Palestine.
Leave a Comment » | BDS, Canada, Commentary/Analysis, Corporate Media, Freedom of Speech | Tagged: BDS, CPCCA, Faculty for Palestine, Israeli Apartheid Week | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
For the past two weeks PSN supporters have been emailing the 10 candidates running for the Mountain Equipment Co-op board of directors to ask their position on ending MEC sourcing from Israeli companies, in line with the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). We believe that having progressive candidates who are willing to consider ending MEC’s “partnerships” on the board is one important element in the Canada-wide campaign to get MEC to stop supporting occupation and apartheid by sourcing products from Israel.
We received responses from all 10 candidates, although numerous candidates used cut-and-paste responses, some of which were identical to those they used last year. Suggested voting and voting instructions are below.
SUGGESTED VOTING
PSN endorses and encourages you to vote only for candidate Dru Oja Jay.
One of Oja Jay’s planks specifically addresses the issue of social justice and MEC’s purchasing policy. We strongly encourage you to read the entire plank, but his own summary of his position is:
1. An ethical purchasing policy worthy of its name should not consider companies that benefit from war and occupation as ethical suppliers. I will work to change MEC’s policies to reflect this.
2. For member participation to be meaningful, it has to be based on informed, open debate accessible to all members.
In his plank, Dru states, “I propose that you can benefit from war and occupation, or you can be considered an ethical supplier, but not both.”
His position on the process in making the decision is as follows:
Speaking as a candidate for the board, I don’t believe that it is the role of board members to change MEC’s policy with regard to a single country. That kind of decision needs, minimally, the support of a plurality of the co-op’s three million members.
I also believe that it is entirely legitimate for co-op members to make political decisions of this type. Few disagree with boycotts of the deposed racist regime in South Africa today, but the anti-apartheid struggle at the time was hotly contested in a great many venues. (MEC’s minutes from the 1980s are not available, but it would be interesting to learn the history, particularly given the role of the international sports community in the boycott of Apartheid South Africa.)
As a board member, I would see it as my duty to ensure that the differing perspectives in the debate were accessible to all members, with a view to facilitating an informed decision in the event of a vote.
I do, however, believe that the board has a mandate from the membership to set high ethical standards for selecting suppliers.
We are also impressed by Oja Jay’s stated commitment to encouraging democratic participation of the membership of MEC. You can read his position on other issues on his campaign website.
Other Candidates
PSN does not think any other candidate has a sufficiently strong position on the issue of sourcing from Israel, but short summaries of the other candidate responses are as follows:
Gail Sullivan stated in her answer that “MEC must continue to actively research sources for MEC production that meets our members standards and share our corporate values” while admitting she needs more information on the issue.
Anders Ourum in his response stated “A policy that excluded products made in Israel or by Israeli companies, simply because they are Israeli, would make no sense.” He did say that “if elected, all I can say is that I’d be willing to support a look at this, and some informed discussion.”
Dominique Levesque responded “I will not take position on that kind of subject for now.”
Candidates Jonathan Gallo, Shauna Sylvestre, Shawn Mitchell, Blair Hammond, Bill Gibson and Morrie Schniderman all indicated they support MEC’s current sourcing policy.
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS
You can vote until March 31, 2011 (noon Pacific Time).
All MEC members 16 years of age or older who joined the Co-op on or before January 5, 2011 can vote for up to three candidates to fill vacancies on the board, but you can vote for less than three. We suggest you vote only for Dru Oja Jay.
Complete instructions are on the MEC election website.
You will need your membership number and a PIN, which you can get online.
You can vote online or by phone. Instructions on voting by phone are available here. Mail ballots are no longer available.
Leave a Comment » | Action, BDS, Canada, Corporations | Permalink
Posted by psnedmonton
Canada Clamps Down on Criticism of Israel
July 22, 2011A great article by Jerusalem-based journalist Jillian Kestler-DAmours on the CPCCA final report and other Canadian support for Israel, which appears on Al Jazeera.
Canada clamps down on criticism of Israel
In an affront to free speech, government committee declares that criticism of Israel should be considered anti-Semitic.
Jillian Kestler-DAmours
Nearly two years after the first hearings were held in Ottawa, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) released a detailed report on July 7 that found that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada, especially on university campuses.
While the CPCCA’s final report does contain some cases of real anti-Semitism, the committee has provided little evidence that anti-Semitism has actually increased in Canada in recent years. Instead, it has focused a disproportionate amount of effort and resources on what it calls a so-called “new anti-Semitism”: criticism of Israel.
Indeed, the real purpose of the CPCCA committee seems to be to stifle critiques of Israeli policy and disrupt pro-Palestinian solidarity organizing in Canada, including, most notably, Israeli Apartheid Week events. Many of the CPCCA’s findings, therefore, must be rejected as both an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of protest, and as recklessly undermining the fight against real instances of anti-Semitism.
Read the rest of this entry »
Share this:
Like this: